Dark Pegasus Video Review: In Your House II – The Lumberjacks

IYH 2: The Lumberjacks by J.D. Dunn Last time out, Mabel did the unthinkable and won the King of the Ring in a field where Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker didn’t even make it past the first round. Yeah, I’m still harping on it. Shawn got over his disappointing performance by becoming the guest color man on Monday Night Raw, which led to problems between he and Jeff Jarrett during one of Jarrett’s Intercontinental Title defenses. Meanwhile, Diesel and Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Sid and Tatanka in the main event, but Sid walked away when Diesel challenged him to go face to face. Now, he’ll have nowhere to run as a Sid and Diesel are set to face off in a lumberjack match. After being humiliated by Bret Hart in a “Kiss My Foot” match, Jerry Lawler scurried off to the dentist – who just happened to be psychotic paindriller Isaac Yankem. July 23, 1995 Live from Nashville, Tenn. Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. Opening Match: The 1-2-3 Kid vs. The Roadie. Roadie was becoming more accepted as a wrestler at this point. He and Jarrett teamed up to put Kid out a few months before this. Kid flies out on top of him and does a lot of the light-heavyweight stuff that got him over with the crowd in the first place. Roadie crotches him on the post, though. OUCH! We cut to the back where Jeff Jarrett isn’t even paying attention to the monitor. Kid hits a spinning back kick to come back. A frogsplash gets two for the Kid. Roadie counters a rana to a powerbomb but posts himself on a charge. Kid goes up but gets crotched. That allows Roadie to hit a second-rope piledriver for the win at 7:26. You really do have to see BG James in action in 1995 to appreciate how good he used to be. Roadie stops to check the mic for Jarrett’s performance later on. **1/4 In the back, Ted Dibiase implies that one of the lumberjacks may cost Diesel the title. King Mabel & Sir Mo vs. Razor Ramon & Savio Vega. Mabel squashed Savio in the finals of the King of the Ring and then squashed Razor’s ribs for fun and sport. Ramon wears a rib wrap to the ring and then tosses it in Mabel’s face. OH, YOU GOT SWERVED! Mabel picks up where he left off the month before – beating the crap out of Savio Vega. Vince notes that Savio wrestled a record four times in one night at the King of the Ring, so Randy Savage must have REALLY pissed someone off because he not only did it a WrestleMania IV, he also did it at The Wrestling Classic. I guess you could say Savio tied the record. Nothing to report really because Savio is playing the part of punching bag for Mabel and Mo, who don’t have much interesting offense. Mo actually does miss a moonsault to allow Razor to tag in. Well that’s impressive even if he didn’t hit it. Razor hits his backdrop superplex and calls for the Razor’s Edge. Mabel tags in but gets slammed off the top. Mabel reverses a whip and avalanches Razor. A splash finishes the Bad Guy off at 10:10. Actually not that bad near the end. *3/4 After weeks of hyping his singing debut and then calling it off, Jeff Jarrett is finally forced to sing live. Of course, it would later turn out that the Roadie was the one who was singing all along. I’m not much of a country music fan, but this was actually pretty good. Way better than Fozzy. Henry O. Godwinn vs. Bam Bam Bigelow. HOG sold out to Ted Dibiase, so that makes him an enemy of Bigelow. Bigelow has fallen quite far, considering he was in the main event only the month before. Godwinn gets a suplex in, but Bammer no-sells and starts bowling him over. Godwinn avoids a charge, and they brawl on the floor. Henry controls, which isn’t as bad as you might think because Henry was an okay worker. He misses a kneedrop off the top, and Bigelow covers for the win at 5:02. Not so bad because they were trying really hard. ** In the crowd, Bob Backlund confronts some potential voters. I wouldn’t have wasted my time because, judging by the kid’s Kurt Cobain shirt, he’s probably not old enough…and a convicted felon. Intercontinental Title: Jeff Jarrett (w/Roadie) vs. Shawn Michaels. Jarrett’s performance hasn’t earned him any new fans. This match might, though, if you’ve never seen it. These guys adapt to one another really well as Jarrett raises his game (which was already very good) to go toe-to-toe with Shawn in the workrate department, and Shawn tries to do more interactive stuff with the audience just like Jarrett. Jarrett knocks Shawn to the floor with a punch and then hangs out in the corner á la HBK, so Shawn clotheslines him over and mocks the Jarrett strut. Jarrett teases getting himself counted out but always comes in to break the count at nine. The tide turns when Jarrett dips his shoulder and backdrops Shawn all the way to the floor. Jarrett works the back the rest of the way, using a Roadie-assisted abdominal stretch to get some heat. He and Roadie try a doubleteam, but it backfires, and Jarrett crotches himself on Roadie’s head. Shawn gets sent over the top off a whip, but he rolls through a crossbody. Jarrett’s sunset flip gets blocked for two, but he completes the move for two of his own. He hits a beautiful dropkick right to Shawn’s mush and applies a sleeper. Shawn elbows out and hits the flying forearm. He actually hits another one and follows up with a double ax-handle. The Picture-Perfect Elbow gets two. Shawn goes up again but gets crotched by the Roadie. Jarrett goes after the knee and tries a figure-four, but Shawn kicks him right into the referee. Jarrett hits a flying bodypress for a close, close two. Roadie tries to trip up Shawn without looking, but Shawn reverses the whip, and Roadie winds up tripping Jarrett. Jarrett is so shocked that Shawn is able to hit Sweet Chin Music for this third IC title at 20:03. Probably Jarrett’s best match, but then a lot of guys had their best matches with Shawn Michaels. ****1/4 In the back, Dok Hendrix channels a seven year-old in relating the story of a fight between Jarrett and the Roadie. Someone needs quiet time. WWF Tag Team Titles: Yokozuna & Owen Hart (w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji) vs. Lex Luger & The British Bulldog. Yoko can barely move at this point, so he just takes a lot of punishment from Luger. Yoko falls on Owen’s leg, triggering an argument between the two, but they make up. Owen and Davey Boy do a nice sequence until Davey Boy nearly drops Owen on his head with a backdrop. The two would go on to a tremendous match in early 1997. In fact, this match is delineated into three parts – the good parts with Owen and Davey Boy, the okay parts when any one of the other two are in, and the bad parts when Luger and Yoko are in. Owen misses a charge and crotches himself in the corner. Luger gets the hot tag and cleans house on the heels. The faces get an impressive backdrop suplex on Yoko, but Owen hits a double ax-handle behind the ref’s back. Yoko adds a legdrop to finish off Luger at 10:55. Thankfully, Yoko wasn’t in there much, but he played his role well when he was. **1/2 WWF Heavyweight Title, Lumberjack Match: Diesel (w/Shawn Michaels) vs. Sid (w/Ted Dibiase). The intrigue here is that one of the babyface lumberjacks may have been bought off by Dibiase. Smart money was on either Shawn or Razor to turn on Diesel and set up Summerslam. Sid attacks but gets knocked to the floor where the faces toss him back in. He gets knocked out on the heel side and gets a massage and a cookie. The heels are not so nice to Diesel and give him a massive stomping. Diesel gets an advantage on Sid and decides to fly out on all the heels in retaliation for the beatdown they gave him earlier. Back in, Diesel gives him a Snake Eyes and readies for the big boot, but Mabel pulls Diesel to the floor and legdrops him. That turns the tide for Sid. Sid delivers the powerbomb but stops to high-five some of his lumberjacks. He only gets two. Sid goes nuts and goes after one of the babyfaces for no apparent reason. Shawn comes off the top and nails Sid with a double ax-handle, allowing the faces to shove him back in. Dies fends off a few of the heel lumberjacks and finishes with a big boot at 10:06. This was not bad thanks to the efforts of some of the lumberjacks to make things interesting. **1/4 Coliseum Home Video Exclusive: Bret Hart vs. Jean Pierre Lafitte. Lafitte is Carl Oulette, the former Quebecer, playing the part of a pirate. He doesn’t even really get into it the way Paul Burchill did. He just has an eye patch. Bret outwrestles him early, mostly working the arm. Lafitte catches him with a hotshot to take over. He hits a big-ass legdrop and settles into a headlock, boring even Gorilla Monsoon and Stan Lane to the point where they’re pondering if anyone’s ever submitted to a headlock. Monsoon decides Strangler Lewis once submitted someone. Lafitte gets a DDT but plays to the crowd like an idiot. When he finally goes for the cannonball, Bret is able to move out of the way. Lafitte actually takes the “Bret Bump.” Bret goes into the FIVE MOVES, but Lafitte blocks the second-rope elbow. Lafitte reverses a German Suplex attempt and goes for his own, but Bret reverses to a rollup at 13:22. Bret would be stuck with Lafitte for a while, and they’d actually have a much better match at the next In Your House. ** Coliseum Home Video Exclusive, Casket Match: The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Kama (w/Ted Dibiase). NOT AGAIN! Undertaker spent most of 1994 on leave, and I’m sure in 1995 he wished he stayed there. His three big rivalries were with King Kong Bundy, Mabel and Kama. Thank God for 1996 and Mick Foley. This, sadly, would be their best match. That’s not an endorsement. Taker goes into the casket early, but they can’t shut the lid. Kama whips him into the steps and mocks Taker’s pose before applying what may be the worst half-crab in the history of wrestling. Oh, and now here’s a bearhug! RIGHT FREAKIN’ YAWN! At least it’s better than Mabel’s the month earlier. Kama hits a piledriver and rolls Taker into the casket, but Taker sits up and pummels him. Taker chokeslams him and boots him right into the casket for the win at 14:48. Sadly, someone was so impressed with this match that they had a rematch at Summerslam. 3/4*

The 411: If you discount the final two Coliseum exclusives, this wasn't a bad PPV at all. The HBK vs. Double J match was a solid MOTYC, and everything was average or close to average. A much better effort than their first IYH. Thumbs up
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]